Essay on "Slavery Today, an African-American Man Is Running"
Essay 3 pages (1069 words) Sources: 0 Style: APA
[EXCERPT] . . . .
SlaveryToday, an African-American man is running for presidential office under the umbrella of the Democratic Party. Fifty years ago, the Democratic Party was the party of slavery and segregation -- how things have changed. Yet the attitudes that validated racial injustice still tragically linger on in our national consciousness. Recently, supporters at a John McCain rally gleefully uttered racial epitaphs in support of their candidate. In the striving of Obama, one might say, we can see the legacy of King pressing America on to change realized. Who would have thought the current presidential contest would have been possible only ten years ago -- but that does not mean the legacy of slavery is still not present in the economic and social disparities evident between blacks and whites, and in the national unconsciousness, even while paying tribute to Obama's achievement.
To read the words of King is inspiring for all generations. King was told wait until the time was right by supposedly good white men. But King knew that he time had never been right. The Constitution had been founded on liberty -- and the 3/5ths compromise that declared African-Americans slaves only partially human beings. After Reconstruction Jim Crow segregation was rapidly put in place in the South, hampering blacks with voting poll tests and segregating the school districts. Obama is the promise of the Constitution made good upon, an ideal Frederick Douglass longed for in his speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" But black men and women still suffer discrimination and the economic repercussions of slavery and hatred. Simply because men such as Obama, King, and Douglass have risen above these ch
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Racism is more than simply epithets and statistics. To be racist is to perceive certain individuals as 'other,' as intrinsically different from one's self. To be racist is to refuse to go to school with 'them,' to refuse to hire people perceived as different. Subtle racism results in African-Americans being denied, sometimes unconsciously, the ability to have the same opportunities as members of the group that dominates most institutions of power. African-Americans still suffer the sad and debilitating legacy of racism which can be harmful to self-esteem and social mobility, just like overt segregation.
Some Americans may try to forget the fact that America's proud cry of liberty and freedom for all really meant liberty and freedom for some, for much of its history. That is why it is essential to read the words of King and Douglass, and to carefully reflect upon their meaning. Seeing the prejudices of the Americas from the eyes of an early observer like Alexis de Tocqueville also reminds us how extraordinary cruel and strange American plantation slavery seemed, even to Europeans, and reminds… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Slavery Today, an African-American Man Is Running" Assignment:
Have this person complete: *****s Username: *****
Reading Assignment:
KSSR:
Tocqueville: *****Present and Future Condition of the Negroes***** 262
Douglass: *****What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? 264
***** Luther King: *****Letter from Birmingham Jail***** 359; *****I Have a Dream***** 473
Steele: *****Race and Responsibility***** 483
Milton and Rose Friedman: *****Equality of Opportunity***** 480
Part 1 [label as 1 but post in a single thread with Part 2]: The first four readings above give historical information on the abuse of human and civil rights that occurred for nearly 170 years after the ratification of the Constitution of our country and on the resistance to and eventual triumph over the system that would allow such abuses. Historians and others justify the study of history by quoting Santayana*****s famous statement that if we are ignorant of history, we *****are doomed to repeat it.***** Since slavery and segregation do not exist today, and do not seem likely to be reinstituted in this country, are there other reasons we can give for the study of these essays on our troubled race history? In other words, what value do these essays have to us today? Or perhaps they have no value and need not be studied. WRITE AN ESSAY OF ABOUT 750 WORDS IN WHICH YOU ARGUE EITHER THAT THE STUDY OF THESE ESSAYS IS VALUABLE OR THAT IT IS NOT. BE SURE TO SUPPORT YOUR POSITION WITH REFERENCES TO KEY IDEAS IN THESE READINGS AND TO OFFER CRITICAL THINKING OPINION OF THESE IDEAS.
Part 2 [label as 2]: Steele (a prominent Black conservative) and Milton and Rose Friedman (economists) present an argument that could be taken to justify overturning our current policy of Affirmative Action. WRITE AN ESSAY OF ABOUT 250 WORDS IN WHICH YOU IN WHICH YOU TAKE A STANCE ON THIS ISSUE, EITHER AGREEING OR DISAGREEING WITH THE ARGUMENTS PRESENTED BY STEELE AND THE FRIEDMANS. BE SURE TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE AND SUPPORT FROM THE ESSAYS, AND BE SURE TO DEFEND YOUR POSITION WITH AS MUCH LOGIC AS POSSIBLE.
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“Slavery Today, an African-American Man Is Running.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2008, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/slavery-today-african-american-man/43121. Accessed 5 Jul 2024.
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